Oh happy day! My very first mesemb grown from seed to flower is Titanopsis primosii and so of course it had to be my cool plant of the week!
And at least five others have buds. T. primosii is a South African mesemb with warty little leaves that camouflage it to look like pebbles or sand hidden among the rocks.
Here is a side view to show off the foliage.
Someone had asked with a previous mesemb seedling post if we could get a photo with something else for comparative size so here it is with my hand. I have dainty little lady hands so the plant is quite small.
These plants were sown last June so they have reached blooming size in just eleven months. The seed was from Silverhill Seeds from South Africa and the germination was exceptionally high. I ended up potting up many more than I normally would have because there were so many in good shape I couldn’t bear to cull them. They are kept in my very sunny seedling nursery under netting to protect them from quail and other birds (a good move as the quail circle this area like sharks and they seem to love the taste of ice plants which are also mesembs). I water them pretty regularly because they are in such small pots in a very sunny and warm spot but I am probably over indulging them and may try to separate out the succulents from some of the herbaceous seedlings.
Anyway as I have said many times before growing plants from seed is one of the most rewarding parts of gardening for me and getting a small succulent to flower from seed is particularly exciting for me as I have not really grown them for that long. Definitely worth trying out if you have a very sunny window sill or small hobby green house.
